Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's. Kaori Galium belongs to AngelBlue1852.

A/N: This chapter picks up just after Ahsoka's trial.

Kaori couldn't believe what had happened. Barriss was her friend. How could she have done something like this? Something didn't add up. She was pulled from her thoughts when a hand grasped her shoulder.

"Oh," She said, when she saw who it was. "It's just you, Nazo."

"I sensed that you were being troubled by something." He said. "Do you have the strength of mind to tell me what it is?"

"I...I just can't believe Barriss would do something this drastic." She replied. "It...It just isn't her."

Nazo sighed. "That depends."

"On what?" Kaori asked, suddenly questioning his logic.

"On whether or not she was aware of her actions." He explained.

Kaori's face scrunched up in thought. "You think someone's been controllin' her, luv?"

"Yes." Nazo replied. Kaori thought about something and said, "I'm gonna go see her. Where were you heading?"

"I was going to find Anakin. I haven't seen him since after Ahsoka's trial." He answered. "However, I wish to see what has become of our friend Barriss first."

They arrived at the detention center where Barriss Offee was being kept. The troopers standing guard gave them ten minutes to speak with her. When she saw them, she frowned. "Oh, it's you two." She said. "What do you want? Here to tell me how 'Ashamed' you are of me?"

The two Jedi Knights looked at each other, before Kaori turned to Barriss. "We just want to talk, luv. We want to know why you did it."

"You already know why." Barriss replied.

Nazo exhaled. "What concerns us is that you are not the type of person who would do something this drastic. You bombed the temple, murdered your accomplice, and almost got one of your best friends killed. That does not sound very much like something we believe you would resort too."

"I...I didn't plan for Ahsoka to get caught up in all this." Barriss admitted. "I was planning to attack again once I realized she had been blamed, so that it would prove her innocence. That's why I helped her escape the first time."

"And yet, instead, you merely made it worse." Nazo argued. "You are no killer, Barriss. Why would you resort to such violence?"

"Oh, don't lecture me about morals, Nazo." Barriss retorted. "You're certainly in no position to talk. Didn't you kill Nute Gunray a few years ago when you were supposed to be interrogating him?" Kaori whipped her head to Nazo, in total shock. Nazo's expression, however, remained neutral.

"Someone had to do it." He shrugged. "At least, unlike Dooku, I granted him a swift death."

"So you know that sometimes, we all need to make sacrifices." Barriss replied.

Kaori was still numb from what she now knew about Nazo. Even though she had heard about his death, she didn't realize it was Nazo who killed him. Granted, she sort of agreed with the idea that Gunray needed to get what he deserved. In fact, she felt deep down that the greedy slime ball's death had been long overdue. But not the way he received it. Not from someone she considered a friend.

She knew that Jedi weren't supposed to let their emotions get to them, even those with her kinds of beliefs. On top of that, she was in her twenties. She needed to keep it together. Which, of course, meant she was falling apart.

Nazo heard her starting to sob, and the stern gaze he was noted for started to fade. "Kaori," He said. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Kaori repeated, her emotions rising. "What's wrong?! I'll tell you what's wrong, Nazo. This war is tearin' us apart, Nazo. Look what it did to Nadhar. He's dead. He threw all his Jedi training away and got 'imself killed. Now I find out that you killed someone, an' then Barriss went an' bombed the Temple. Why?" The tears were no longer being held back. "Why are we fallin' so far? How much are we willin' to sacrifice for the sake of this damn war, hmm? 'ow much more are we gonna throw away for some stupid bloody war?!"

She couldn't help herself anymore. She threw herself against Nazo, burying her face into his chest and crying loudly. Nazo had never seen her this upset before, not even when she had found out about Qui-Gon Jinn's death. Sighing, he did the only thing he thought to do, and hugged Kaori back.

"That's it, Kaori." He said, softly. "Just let it out. It's like you said. You shouldn't be holding these feelings down so much. Just let it all out. I'm right here." When she looked back up at him, her eyes were puffy and she was sniffling. She broke away.

Nazo sighed. "I understand that you must think I am losing my way as a Jedi. I'll admit, perhaps killing Gunray was a poor move on my part, but at the time, I had presumed that he was of little importance to either side. I had already learned everything I needed to know from him. I was also under the impression that Dooku would suspect that by the time Separatist forces could arrive to attempt a rescue, Gunray would have already cracked and revealed valuable secrets to us. Which he had. So, knowing that Dooku would most likely kill Gunray anyway, I spared him of such a terrible fate, and granted him a merciful death."

Kaori sniffled, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry, luv. I...I just don't want to watch any more of my friends die to this war. I just want us to end this already."

"And yet here I am, in prison for having tried to send that very message." Barriss interjected.

"The message you were trying to send was not the problem, Barriss." Nazo said. "It was the methods with which you went about getting it across." Barriss looked to the floor. "Which reminds me..."

Using the Force, he opened Barriss' cell. She barely had enough time to react before the green blade of Nazo's lightsaber pierced her through the chest. Kaori jumped back.

"What the bloody hell, Nazo?!" She screamed. "I thought I just said that..." She looked at Barriss, shocked to see sparks flying out of the wound. As "Barriss" collapsed, she changed into something else.

"A...training droid?!" Kaori asked. "How did...what?"

Nazo stood up again. He deactivated his lightsaber as the guards filled the room. "I had been attempting to read her thoughts during our conversation." He explained. "I knew something was wrong when I didn't sense any vital signs from her. Not even a Force signature."

"So, the traitor planted a decoy so she could escape?" One of the clones asked.

"Hmm, in a way." Nazo answered. "However, Barriss is not the traitor. Someone else framed her, just as we presumed that she framed Ahsoka Tano."

"So that means..." Kaori asked, with hope filling her eyes. "Barriss is innocent too?"

"Yes." Nazo said. "And we need to find her."

"Master Unduli is going to be relieved to 'ear this." Kaori said under her breath, as she and several of the guards took off to find Barriss.

Nazo relied on his senses in the Force to locate her. He checked throughout the Temple, until something caught his attention. It was Anakin. Nazo turned to the Clones helping him and said, "You continue searching, gentlemen. I need to see to something." The Clones nodded in affirmation, and headed off. Anakin sensed Nazo approach.

"Oh," Anakin said bitterly. "It's you."

Nazo was caught off guard by Anakin's tone. "Anakin, is something wrong?"

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong," Anakin replied. "What's going on?"

"A decoy was discovered in Barriss cell. Someone reprogrammed one of those prototype holodroids you built and used it to impersonate her."

Anakin clenched his fists. "So that traitor Barriss is still out there?"

Nazo sighed. "Yes and No. Yes, the traitor is still at large. But no, it is not Barriss. She is as innocent as Ahsoka in all this." There was a pause. "Say, where is Ahsoka, anyway."

"Gone." Anakin growled. "She left. She's not coming back."

"She left the Order?" Nazo asked. Anakin nodded. "Why?"

"The stupid Council, that's why." Anakin snapped. "They offered to make her a Knight after they realized they were wrong."

"That's it?" Nazo asked. "That doesn't seem like a bad thing at all."

"There's more." Anakin continued. "Instead of actually apologizing for there mistakes, Mace Windu decided to play it all off as her 'Big trial'. What a load of nonsense."

"Well, that's Master Windu for you, I suppose." Nazo sighed.

Anakin smirked. Nazo went on. "So now she's gone?"

"Yes." Anakin replied. "And I don't know what to do about it."

"Forgive me for suggesting this, Anakin." Nazo sighed. "But perhaps it would be wise to move on." Anakin looked up at him incredulously, but before he could say anything, Nazo added, "Would she want you to fall into this pit of despair?"

Anakin took a moment to process this. "She's not here anymore."

"But she's still alive, thanks to you. Isn't she?" Nazo argued. "She has your training, after all. Have some faith in her abilities. And don't just throw in the towel just because she left. You need to be strong, for her sake."

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" Anakin asked, suspiciously.

Nazo sighed. "I've had much time to think about things, Anakin. I understand that you and I have not been on good terms. With everything happening so suddenly, though, I feel that we should have made more of an effort to cooperate.

"You see, I've held something akin to envy against you. And a fair amount of concern as well. Everyone is calling you 'The Chosen One' and 'The Hero with No Fear'. I can only imagine how you have been taking this information, and the idea that the very fate of the Galaxy could very much rest on your shoulders must be a big responsibility."

Anakin groaned. "Is that why the Council is alwasy concerned about me? Because of that?"

"I can only assume that is the case." Nazo shrugged. "I understand that this must place a lot of pressure on you. Coupled with something like your Padawan walking away like this. It's rather impressive that you haven't completely snapped under the pressure yet."

Anakin sighed, realizing that Nazo had a point. "Besides," Nazo added with a playful smirk. "I think the only thing you need to worry about is whether or not she knows how to land a ship in one piece." Anakin's eyes widened and he punched Nazo's shoulder.

He sighed as he said, "Well, going off of what you mentioned about me snapping, that actually happened, once."

"Is that so?" Nazo said, worried. "What happened?"

Anakin sighed. "I prefer not to talk about it."

Nazo said, "We're having a conversation about this, Anakin. If you have something you want to get off your chest, you might as well just say something now."

Anakin didn't say anything at first. Nazo sighed, then extended his hand. After a moment, he reeled back, an expression of realization on his face.

"What?" Anakin wondered. "What did you do?"

"I saw...everything." Nazo said. "I searched your thoughts. You were thinking back to something that occurred on Tatooine. Your mother dying in your arms. The slaughter of the Tusken Raiders. Everything."

"So now you know." Anakin grumbled. "I was angry that I failed to save my mother, and her murderers were right outside the tent. Of course I took out my anger on them."

"If it means anything," Nazo replied. "I was the one who killed Nute Gunray."

Anakin sighed, having heard how the slimy Viceroy had been dead upon arriving to Coruscant.

"So I guess we're both murderers then, huh?" Anakin asked.

"In my defense, somebody was going to have to do Gunray in eventually." Nazo shrugged. Then he looked at Anakin and said, "So, what will it be. Can we move on?" He extended a hand to Anakin, who looked down at it.

"Sure," He said. "It's better than hating each other." He reached out to shake Nazo's hand, but as soon as they made contact, Anakin reeled back, clutching his hand as if it were on fire.

Nazo, however, wasn't fooled for long, and punched Anakin's shoulder playfully. "Now we're even." Anakin joked.

The com link at Nazo's side beeped. He activated it.

"Nazo, are you there?" Kaori asked.

"I'm here," Nazo replied. "And Anakin's here as well."

"We've found Barriss. She was tied up and unconscious when we found her. I've already mentioned this to the Council. Can you guys come find me?"

"We're on our way, Kaori." Nazo replied. He exchanged a look with Anakin and said, "We should go."

"But what about the traitor?" Anakin asked. "They're still out there."

"We'll find them eventually." Nazo replied. "For right now, our friends need us. And the Council will have some explaining to do."

A/N: Originally, I was intending to add a little part where Nazo is reflecting on what has happened, and it would have been revealed that he was the one to set Barriss up. The idea was that he hoped to undermine Anakin's resolve, and that he was pretending to be supporting Anakin following Ahsoka's leave. It would also have been mentioned that Nazo was the one to have killed Letta Turmond.

Also, I am aware that in Altered Destinies, Barriss claims that she was the victim of something akin to mind control, whereas in here, it is established that the "Barriss" that carried out the attacks was a fake. This is the official explanation. I'll have to get around to fixing up that little error at a later date.

The thing is, and I'm just going to get it out there: Nazo Malfoy is in fact the Stalker in Altered Destinies and Fates Rewritten. However, the circumstances through which he makes this transition are going to remain under wraps for now. I'm thinking of progressing the plot of Fates Rewritten a little more before I reach that part in this story where Nazo's fall to the Dark Side is explained.

Also, The droids Nazo mentioned are the same exact ones as PROXY, from The Force Unleashed. I consider them canon, along with anything pertaining to Revan, because it should be canon.

Next Chapter, we time skip to the first arc of Season Six, from Kaori's perspective. It will focus on her involvement in unraveling the conspiracy on Kamino.

Until then, please RRF&F, and I'll see you all next time. Peace out, and may the Force be with you. Always.